Smile Secrets: 5 Things Your Grin Reveals

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Feeling happy? Go ahead and smile — but know that you may be
telling others more about yourself than you think.

The meaning of a smile changes depending on the social context,
studies show. Some smiles bring benefits, but others reveal
hidden weakness. Humans smile more depending on who they're
talking to, and those smiles can hint at their futures.

Without further ado, here are five things your smile tells others
about you.

1. Will your marriage last?

Wedded bliss may be linked to an easy grin. According to a study
published in 2009 in the journal Motivation and Emotion, the way
people smile in old photographs predicts their
later success in marriage.

In one study, psychologists rated people's college yearbook
photos for smile intensity (muscle stretching around the mouth
and eyes). They found that none of the biggest grinners divorced
later in life. In comparison, 25 percent of the most
straight-faced experienced divorce.

A second study of childhood photos of people over age 65 found a
similar link. Among those with the biggest smiles in the
childhood pictures, 11 percent later experienced divorce,
compared with 31 percent of the least smiley.

Women with gum disease take an average of two
months longer to conceive than women without, according to
research published in 2009 in the journal Obstetrics and
Gynecology. Gum disease is linked to an increased risk of heart
disease, Type 2 diabetes, respiratory disease and kidney disease.
The link appears related to increased inflammation that
accompanies gum disease, the researchers found.

3. How much earning power do you have?

A teenager's grin can predict how much cash he or she will rake
in as an adult. According to a study published in 2012 in the
journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, happy
teens earned 10 percent
more income than average at age 29, while gloomy adolescents
earned 30 percent less than average at that age.

Happiness is likely linked with fewer worries and less stress,
study researchers reported. Less worry means more mental space to
focus on job-related tasks.

4. How powerful are you?

Smiles aren't just about happiness. They're also a sign of
social status. A 1998 study in the journal Personality and
Social Psychology Bulletin found that high-powered people, as
well as people interacting with others of equal power, smiled
when they felt happy.

In contrast, people with less social power than the person they
were interacting with smiled regardless of their own emotions.

The findings suggest that powerful people have the privilege of
smiling when they please, whereas those with less power are
obligated to smile in order to ingratiate themselves. [ 5
Surprising Ways to Banish Bad Breath ]

The link between smiles and power holds in the physical realm, as
well. In one study, professional mixed martial arts fighters who
grinned in photographs taken the day before a match were more
likely to lose than fighters who presented a tough mug for the
camera.

Fighting is about dominance, and smiles may inadvertently signal
that a person is less dominant,
hostile or aggressive, researchers reported online Jan. 28,
2013, in the journal Emotion.

Even untrained observers caught on to the message in the smiles,
the same study found. People viewed a fighter as more trustworthy
and agreeable, but less aggressive and less physically dominant,
if they saw him smiling versus posing with a neutral expression.

The takeaway? Smiles grease the social wheels in most situations,
and happiness is usually a boon. But if you're going head-to-head
in a contest of dominance, put your game face on.